The Advent gift on Day 8 of Sharing the Joy comes from the Discipling the Next Generations Circle.
Melissa Neumann offers an all-age prayer activity from the Christmas Family Faith Trail resource which focuses on God’s love.

I invite you to reflect on the words of John 3:16.

Ask God to prepare your heart to celebrate God’s incredible love this Christmas.

You might like to draw a heart shape and then write a prayer inside the heart. You could also trace a heart shape on your palm as you say your prayer.

Pray for ways to show God’s love to your household, your extended family and friends, and especially for those who might be struggling.

More interactive ideas

Download a heart envelope template, print and write your prayer inside together (see page 5 of the resource). Fold along the dots and float in water as you pray.

Make heart-shaped cookies (see page 4 of the resource), wrap in cellophane and give as gifts.

*The Christmas Family Faith Trail is a free resource for people of all ages that explores the Christmas story. The resource provides five interactive stations for use during Advent. Each station has a theme, Bible passage, questions to chat about, activity ideas for different ages including adults, and prayer ideas that use locations and items from around the home. This is a great opportunity to grow faith at home for people of all ages, particularly families with children under 12. We hope this resource equips families and households to play, talk and pray together so that they may grow in faith, especially as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, God’s great gift. It is co-written by the Intergen Team, UCA Synod of SA and Blueprint Ministries, Lutheran Church Synod of SA/NT. Available to download here: https://sa.uca.org.au/intergen/